That statement is not resonating well with members of the African American community and Hip Hop fans, including activist and blogger Paul Scott of Durham, North Carolina.

"The 'T' in T-Pain, now stands for 'Tom,' says Scott, referring to the disrespectful label, "Uncle Tom," which means someone who turns his back on the black community.

Although, some are arguing that the T-Pain/Sean Hannity video was just a nonpolitical photo op, Scott disagrees.

"I bet that neither T-Pain nor his handlers would have allowed his picture to be taken with Rev. Jeremiah Wright while holding a copy of 'Message to a Black Man," says Scott.

According to Scott, Conservatives such as Sean Hannity are hostile to policies that help poor and underprivileged communities ; communities that rappers claim to represent.

" It seems that artists that rep' the hood on the radio are actually closet Conservatives," says Scott. "It is time to pull the sheets off of those artists who are sleeping with the enemy."

This is not the first time that entertainers have come under fire in recent years for expressing political sentiments. Country music stars, the Dixie Chicks, suffered a viscous backlash in 2003, when lead singer, Natalie Maines, announced during a London concert that she was ashamed that the President of the United States was from Texas. The outburst led to boycotts by insulted country music fans and radio stations.

"If country music Conservatives can boycott the Dixie Chicks for dissin' the Right, Hip Hoppers should be able to shut down T-Pain for dissin' the Left," says Scott.

Scott, who is the author of the blog, "No Warning Shots Fired.com," is asking that the African American community and rap music fans withdraw their support of T-Pain until he denounces the Right Wing's attack on "the 'hood" and apologizes for being used as a "bamboozled Right Wing flunky."

"We must begin to hold rappers accountable not only for their lyrics of violence and misogyny but also for their political stances that run contrary to the needs of the children in poor and oppressed communities, says Scott.

Paul Scott, known as the "Hip Hop TRUTH Minista," recently launched the "Right Wing Rap Attack" a campaign to challenge Hip Hop artists to speak out against the Tea Party, Birthers and other Right Wing groups. For more information on the campaign contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com or visit www.nowarningshotsfired.com

Saturday, April 17, 2010

"But they use you for an example. They would rep' but our heroes got their hands full"

These are our Heroes-Nas

Sellout; Sambo; Uncle Tom. These are all terms to describe someone who turns his back on the black community to serve the interests of white supremacy. While these terms have usually been reserved for the likes of Conservatives such as Clarence Thomas or Michael Steele, today we have to add some Hip Hop artists to this dis-honor roll. One being Faheem Rasheed Najm, known to the world as T-Pain.

Recently, Right Wing hitman, Sean Hannity posted a video on his website featuring T-Pain big uppin' his Fox News television show. Not only that, but when Hannity asked him to say "Conservative victory in 2010" in pure "yessa boss" fashion, he gladly agreed.

This is just another part of the recent trend of the Right Wing to get a black co-signer to prove once and for all that they are not the bunch of racist bigots that we think they are. Recently, there was attempt by the folks at Fox News to use an old interview LL Cool J to promote Sarah Palin's new reality show.

Historically, black entertainers have shied away from taking overtly political stands. It must be remembered that even during the height of the Civil Rights movement, music giant Motown had its artists sitting on the sidelines while black folks were fighting in the streets for equal rights.

Entertainers have had, perhaps, just cause to be a little cautious. There is a long history of persecution of those who dared to use their popularity as a bully pulpit to speak truth to power.

It is rumored that Billie Holiday's 1939 anti-lynching anthem "Strange Fruit" was banned by radio stations. Paul Robeson was blacklisted for his open embrace of Communism and Eartha Kitt was persecuted for her statements against the Vietnam War.

During the late 80's and early 90's, Hip Hop artists such as Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Ice T all felt the wrath of the establishment for daring to rap about something other than gold chains and Air Jordans. The list goes on.

So most entertainers got the message and stuck to singin' and dancin'.

This fear of taking political stances is not just limited to musicians but athletes have also been cowards. During the early 90's, basketball legend Michael Jordon refused to donate any money to build a black cultural center at the University of North Carolina; avoiding the fate of former teammate, Craig Hodges, whose Afro-centric activism, allegedly, resulted in his being blackballed by the NBA for a time.

This legacy of political apathy and persecution is what makes T-Pain's photo op with Hannity so alarming. There are many worthy black empowerment organizations that could have used his endorsement to help their causes. Instead he chose to give fuel to a racist Right Wing machine that has been running rampant since the '08 election.

While there are some who will argue that T-Pain's actions are just an example of a politically naive hood dude being bamboozled by the media savvy Slick Sean Hannity, I doubt that this is the case. I am sure that neither T-Pain nor his handlers would have allowed his picture to be taken with Rev. Jeremiah Wright or posing with a copy of "Message to the Black Man."

I didn't buy the late gangsta rapper Eazy E's flimsy excuse for attending a George Bush Sr luncheon nor do I buy the idea that T-Pain's Conservative endorsement was just a gag. As we approach the mid -term election season, the stakes are too high to play sophomoric games with the lives of poor folks.

It is a widely accepted myth that Hip Hop artists share the same socio-political ideology as their constituents in the hood. Perhaps the sad fact is that the multi-millionaire rappers have more in common with the wealthy, Right Wing Conservatives than they do with the strugglin' people in the 'hood whom they are supposed to represent. Maybe, the video with Sean Hannity and T-Pain was, merely, about two rich guys having a chuckle over the gullibility of their fans.

It has ,also, been assumed by Hip Hop conspiracy theorists that rappers and Conservatives are in cahoot's, just using the classic "every hero needs a villain" scam. Despite the faux Fox morality of commentator's like Bill O'Reilly, the Right Wingers, actually need rappers to use as poster children to justify their accusations of the "failure of big government," in order to advocate for the elimination of social programs to help the less fortunate.

Hip Hop fans must handle T-Pain with the same passion that hardcore country music fans used to deal with the Dixie Chicks after they criticized George "G-Dub" Bush. If Jay Z can criticize T-Pain for the over use of the auto-tune, Hip Hop headz should be able to criticize him for being used as a flunky for the Right Wing.

We must begin to hold rappers accountable not only for their lyrics of violence and misogyny but also for their political stances that run contrary to the needs of the children in poor and oppressed communities.

Until he denounces the Right Wing's attack on the 'hood, the "T" in T-Pain will henceforth and forever more stand for "Tom."

In breaking news, two of Hip Hop's most popular artists died today. In what was the culmination of a year long beef, an altercation in the middle of 52nd street has left both men dead. No, they didn't shoot each other. As they stood arguing in the middle of the street, they were run over by a Tea Party Express bus that was running late for a rally...

Beef. That is one word with which the Hip Hop community has become very familiar over the last decade and a half. The term has resulted in many tragedies in the black community ranging from neighborhood feuds to deaths on street corners. Black people taking it to other Black people is an everyday occurrence in 'hoods across the country. This is what makes the Hip Hop community's (and the black community, in general) lack of response to the current climate of hate fueled by the Tea Party, Birthers and other agents of White Supremacy especially disturbing.

For the last year, anti-Afrikan behavior has escalated from anti -Black propaganda being promoted on radio stations to black Congressmen being called racial slurs and spat upon. All over the country Right Wing racists are rallying thousands of people, while black folks are pretending not to notice.

Since Hip Hop has always prided itself as being the true voice of the black community, you would think that rap artists would be on the front line fighting against these disses to black folks.

Not so.

So far, there have been, relatively, few Hip Hoppers calling out the Right Wingers. This is not to say that "no" rap artists are speaking out on issues as there are Hip Hop Freedom Fighters in communities across the country but most have heard about the attacks that came upon such political artists such as Professor Griff and Sister Souljah in the 80's/90's and don't want the same thing to happen to them. Many of them feel that even if they did take a stand, an unorganized, apathetic black community would just leave them hanging.

I don't know if you noticed it or not but radio stations have even stopped playing "violent" music over the last few months. Instead, radio has dumped violence for misogyny. While we must not condone black on black violence in any form, the rationale for the sudden change in radio rotation must be examined.

The industry knows that one of the by products of Hip Hop has been black male rebelliousness. This is why those in power were quick to blame incidents of racial unrest such as the Virginia Beach and LA rebellions (riots) of the late 80's/early 90's on the music of groups like Public Enemy. Immediately, they went to work to replace revolutionary Hip Hop with gangsta tales of black on black homicide and chemical genocide (crack sales). During the following decade, since "racism" became less overt, the black male aggressiveness generated by Hip Hop was used on other black males.

However, with racism/White Supremacy becoming more "in your face" over the last year, the "powers that be" don't want to risk the fratricidal message of gangsta rap to be misinterpreted as a call to "fight the power." They know that with a change of a couple of words a 50 Cent song becomes a Dead Prez-like call to "bang on the system." So now, what you you hear on the radio is "stripper music" dealing with girls instead of guns.

The agents of white supremacy have studied our history well. They know the success that Bunchy Carter, Fred Hampton and others had in transforming gang bangers into revolutionaries during the Black Power Era. They know that a Blood or Crip esposed to a strong dose of political education has the potential to become Black Panther or Deacon for Defense.

They also know that even the most hardcore thug will become outraged if while flippin' the channel between Hip Hop stations, he hear's a Right Wing radio host call him a "no good bum who will never amount to anything" and his mother a "lazy welfare queen."

And with the escalation of anti-black rhetoric from Right Wing radio hosts this scenario is possible if not probable.

In every city the Right Wingers are organizing their troops via Conservative radio stations, as media giants such as Clear Channel have begun converting their country music stations into virtual 100,000 watt Ku Klux Klan headquarters. In, North Carolina they recently turned 106.1 FM into "Rush Radio, named after their star player, the infamous Rush Limbaugh. Clear Channel realizes that all politics is local so , although they broadcast the likes of Sean Hannity, Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh, throughout the day , during the morning drive time, their programming becomes early morning strategy sessions. So while the nationally syndicated bigots like Limbaugh lay out the national strategy, the local hosts and their listeners politic on how to implement it locally. All the while black folks are busy lip syncing, "How Low Can You Go" on their way to work, totally oblivious to the plans being devised on the talk radio station on the end of the dial.

In NC, the WRDU "Morning Show" insults black folks every morning with the same Right Wing racist garbage without being challenged. They have even set up a chat room where their racist listeners hold strategy sessions every morning from 5:30AM to 9AM EST because they know that most black folks are too busy laughing at J. Anthony Brown jokes on the Tom Joyner Morning Show tro pay them any attention.

Twenty years ago, we would have never stood still for this disrespect without challenging it. However, nowadays we are too busy getting into Internet "beefs" on YouTube with other Afrikans that we don't seem to have time to challenge those who espouse the tenets of white global domination and the oppression of Afrikan people.

That is why it is important that we form "Militant Mind Militias" in 'hoods across the country to counter the lies and attacks on black culture from the Right wing. We have to start calling in to these Right Wing racist talk shows and challenging their racist rhetoric.

Don't get it twisted, this has nothing to do with whether one agrees with the politics of Barack Obama. This is about the anti-Afrikan white supremacist ideology being spewed by the Tea Party and the rest of their crew.

It is time that we dust off our Neely Fuller and Amos Wilson books and put the principals into action. Some of us have read hundreds of books on African History but only use the information to prove that they are intellectually superior to our black brothers and sisters; never once challenging the Ph.D carrying members of white supremacist think tanks.

It is time that we start using Youtube, Facebook and Twitter for something more than booty calls and coonery.

It is time that we start using our Afrikan minds to challenge white supremacy ideology.

We have nothing to lose but our mental chains.

I know that some of you are going to cop out and give 100 reasons why we should not get into ideological debates with white folks. You really only need one reason to do so; our people need to see black intelligence in action. Isn't that what inspired us to follow the teachings of Malcolm X, Dr. Khallid Muhammad and Dr. John Henrik Clark , that they were not afraid to challenge the best white scholars in open debate?

The ancestors are crying for us to engage the oppressor in a battle of the minds with the Right Wing.

Unfortunately, so far, Hip Hop and most black folks have been missing in action.

Paul Scott

Paul Scott

Paul Scott is a minister, writer, lecturer and activist. He has been a guest on talk shows around the world including Hannity and Colmes (Fox News), Fox News Live, Nachman (MSNBC), Hot 97 (NY), The Bev. Smith Show, Mancow Morning Show, Mike Medved Show, Russ Parr Morning Show, Mo in the Midday WVON (Chicago), Tom Pope Show (DC) Newstalk 1010 (Toronto) and SAfm (South Africa) discussing the issues of Rap,Race,Religion and Revolution. He has been interviewed by many newspapers including the New York Times, the USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. Scott has lectured at universities across the country including West Virginia University, Clemson, Winston Salem State University and Illinois Wesleyan University. Scott was ordained a Baptist minister in 1998 he later went on to coin the phrase Afrikan Liberation Theology, which is "Black Liberation Theology for the 21st century." After forming the New Righteous Movement, Scott formed the Messianic Afrikan Nation in 2003. For more information contact (984) 377-2064 info@nowarningshotsfired.com or Twitter @NWSF